Large machines that use coolant during machining operations are not able to easily contain the coolant on the surface of the item (e.g. plate) being machined and require substantial guards and guttering around the cutting table to contain and collect the coolant used.
Additionally machines that cut profiles from large plates require various types of processes to be performed on each part. Typically the part will require a process to sever the part profile from the parent plate but will also require machining operations such as drilling, tapping or milling which can use coolant during the machining operation. Typically the machining operations are performed prior to the profile being cut out to ensure the part is supported during the machining operations.
Typically on a cutting machine for dry cutting, such as a profile cutting machine, the bridge of the profile cutting machine is often fitted with laser, oxy fuel and plasma cutting torches and can also be fitted with high speed spindles for machining operations.
Currently when a combination machine fitted with both a thermal cutting (which is essentially dry cutting) and a machining head (which ideally uses coolant during cutting) and operates over a dry table system then the cutting table is fitted with a fume extraction system to remove the fumes and smoke caused during cutting processes such as may occur with laser, plasma or oxy fuel processes. The fume extraction is located under the plate being processed such that the air below the plate is extracted complete with the fumes. These fumes are ducted to a filter system where the dust particles in the fumes are extracted from the air such that the air vacating the filters is clean. The filter membranes in these systems must remain dry to prevent blocking.
When machining operations are incorporated on this style of machine, oil mist or very small amounts of coolant are applied to the machining operations whereby any coolant applied can fall through holes, cuts or off the edge of the plate being cut and can be sucked up with the fume extraction system when it is turned on and cause problems with the filters on the extraction system. There is no way to recycle the coolant from machining operations or any method to contain the coolant.
The disadvantage of this existing style of machine is that there is no method to keep separate the coolant from the fume extraction system so because of this the amount of the actual coolant that is used is minimized. Additionally the machining tools do not receive the ideal level of cooling and lubrication thereby reducing the machining speed and tool life. Additionally there is no coolant available to assist in the removal of chips generated during the machining processes as occurs during deep hole drilling where coolant is used to push the chips up out of the hole.
Additionally there is no method to recover or recycle the coolant. Therefore current methods use more tools, coolant and filters than is strictly necessary which adds to the cost of cutting profiles in plate.
In this specification unless the contrary is expressly stated, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge; or known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which this specification is concerned.